The Many Squads of Advanced Squad Leader

By David Garvin

In the many wargames I’ve played, most countries’ soldiers were treated fairly equally. Some units were stronger than others, and some were faster than others, but in , units do not only differ by nation, but also by class and type. Section 25 of Chapter A of the rule book is dedicated to the various nations; however, there are other parts of the rule book that lay out the various characteristics of the many countries that fought in the Second World War and the Korean War.

Chapter A covers the nationalities that fought in Europe, Chapter G expands into the Pacific and Chapter W covers Korea. In order to maximize your forces in ASL, a complete understanding of your national characteristics is vital. Before getting into the meat of the characteristics and traits, a note from the authors of the rule book is in order. As they say, “Nationality Distinctions vary troop capabilities from one nation to  another, and while patently unfair in their application of stereotyped and over-simplified traits to all troops of a country without exception, nonetheless do serve to give the game much of its flavor.”

The characteristics of your cardboard warriors are gross over-simplifications. But they work

The various traits are summarized in two National Capabilities Charts; one for World War II and one for the Korean War. Both charts break down the various forces by many metrics. These include their crew stats, Base Point Values for their squads, Artillery die roll accuracy, and perhaps most importantly, the various miscellaneous notes.  Now these are just statistics and data for the various nations, but the successful player will take each data point and ensure that he not only knows them but understands them and their effects on the game. This will ensure that he will maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses, or at least mitigate them.

That look you make when you realize your morale is the same as an untrained peasant from the Steppe

The treatment of nations has not been without criticism. Ever since the original Squad Leader was released in 1977, the treatment of the US forces in particular has been heavily criticized. In that original game, the squad morale was a paltry 6. In simple terms, this means to pass a normal morale check, a US squad needed to roll 6 or less on 2d6. This means that more often than not, they would break. The mitigating factor for their forces was that they were not subject to desperation morale. In ASL, first-line US squads retain the same low morale level; however, they are subject to desperation morale. The mitigation is that their broken side morale is now 8. If in rally bonus terrain and if they were to attempt to be rallied by a leader with a leader rating of -1, they would stand a pretty good chance of rallying if still under the effects of desperation morale, and an almost automatic rally if desperation morale were no longer in effect. Compared to a first-line German squad, they break faster, but rally faster. Much faster.

Looks like the Gurkhas have opted for hand-to-hand in melee again!

Some national traits are further divided depending on particular group. For example, take the British. As the rules say, “British troops also encompass all “Commonwealth”, Free French, and liberated forces.” The traits are given that apply to all Commonwealth forces, but some are quite particular.  Gurkhas, for example, may opt for hand-to-hand in certain conditions when they are in Close Combat or Melee. They also will not surrender via the Rout Phase Method or become disrupted.  Meanwhile, good order ANZAC forces are stealthy, unless green. These are all very specific variations of characteristics for Commonwealth forces, but as stated already, the successful player is the one who not only knows these characteristics, but understands how to get the most out of them.

I assure you that although we look Romanian with these helmets, we’re Dutch!

Other national traits are quite generic. This is best seen in the treatment of what the rule book terms as Axis Minors and Allied Minors. In game terms, Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Croatian and Bulgarian troops are treated identically and use the same game counters during play. Given that Hungarian and Romanian forces did fight one another, it eventually became necessary for unique counters. In the Historical ASL (HASL) , unique Hungarian counters were issued. Also specific to that HASL, Soviet-Allied Hungarian forces were issued, but they apply only as Special Scenario Rules for those issued with that module. For the Allied Minors, it is the various countries that Germany invaded in the first year of the war who get the generic treatment. This includes the Poles, Danes, Norwegians, Belgians, Dutch, Yugoslavs and Greeks. Historically each of these nations had its own characteristics, weapons and so forth, but at the end of the day, ASL is a game and this is how the designers treated these forces. It must be noted that the Free Poles who fought for the Western Allies are not included in these counter mixes, nor are the Poles who fought for the Soviets in 1944 and later.

Occasionally, a product will come along to challenge the status quo. is a third-party producer of ASL products, and they gave the Poles a very special and high-quality treatment in their product . No new characteristics were introduced; however, unique Polish vehicles and weapons were issued as new counters. More impressively, six professional-quality counter sheets are included in the module. Most strikingly are the Poles themselves. They are issued in a two-toned color scheme that makes them stand out. Also, there are no less than 45 scenarios included in the pack, along with unique boards and so forth. Every component in this third-party product is compatible with every officially issued piece of gear. Not only that, but the producers are very clear on who owns the copyright and they are quite careful to point out that their product can only be used in conjunction with official ASL products.

Am I line Infantry? Combat Engineer? Depends. What does my counter say?

So there you have it. Whether it’s in the far-east in the late 1930s, Central Europe in the 1940s or on the Korean peninsula in the 1950s, there is an ASL counter to represent the various nations at war. Some groups, such as the Commonwealth, get very specific treatment, while others, such as a half-dozen Allied countries, are grouped into one. Yes, these are gross oversimplifications, but at the end of the day, ASL is a game. And to remain playable, there has to be a common-sense approach to how to represent the unique characteristics of the various countries at war. And let us also not forget that within each nation there are in some cases several types of squads. The Germans, for example, have standard infantry squads (of varying quality levels) as well as submachine gun-armed Paratroopers, Waffen-SS squads and even Combat Engineers. But these are just tools. It is the artisan, the gamer, who best uses these tools according to their characteristics that will emerge as the victorious Squad Leader.